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Four heads have been pieced together from shards of pottery at ancient Porphyreon in Lebanon. Top image is of the best preserved. Another is partially complete, and the other two are very incomplete.

2,400-Year-Old Goddess Statues Found Dumped in Ancient City on Lebanon’s Coast

Polish archaeologists studying the ancient city of Porphyreon in Lebanon have pieced together the broken parts of ceramic heads to remake what they think are statues of goddesses. One of the 2,400-...

Woman, Healer, Goddess? Famous (and Forbidden) Female Physicians in the Ancient World

Throughout history, women have always been healers. They were pharmacists, cultivating healing herbs and exchanging the secrets of their uses. They were also nurses, counselors, midwives who traveled...
An Easter postcard depicting the Easter Bunny.

The Very Strange History of the Easter Bunny

While you’re biting the heads off your chocolate bunnies this weekend, you might wonder how rabbits became so central to our Easter celebrations. It’s tempting to assume that because there’s no...
Minerva arming herself. The Gaulish goddess Belisama has been linked to this Roman goddess.

Belisama: Who Was this Beautiful, Powerful, and Popular Gaulish Goddess?

When the Roman conquerors encountered the world of Gaulish deities and traditions, they tried to understand it in their own religious terms. Seeing a cult of gods and goddesses, they sought to find...
The statue of King Amenhotep III in the ruins of his temple in Luxor

Archaeologists find Magnificent Statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III and His Protector, the Lioness Goddess of War

Archaeologists working in Luxor have unearthed a magnificent statue of King Amenhotep III of ancient Egypt and several statues and statue parts of the cat goddess Sekhmet meant to protect him. The...
Gods, Goddesses and… Rabbits? The Surprising Ancient Myths of the Moon

Gods, Goddesses and… Rabbits? The Surprising Ancient Myths of the Moon

Before the first moon landing in 1969, the Chinese moon goddess Chang'e was mentioned in the Apollo 11 Air-to-Ground Voice Transcription between the Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas and the Apollo...
1st century BC marble statue of Cybele from Formia, Lazio

Mothers, Madness and Music: A Study of the Parallels of Cybele and Dionysus

Though she was one of the most renowned goddesses in her day, the motherly, wise Cybele has long been over-shadowed in the mythology of ancient Greece by the later pre-Olympian goddesses, Rhea, Gaia...
Divine, Forbidden and Dangerous? Magic Apples in Ancient Mythology

Divine, Forbidden and Dangerous? Magic Apples in Ancient Mythology

Apples have a prominent place in world mythology, and are often associated with paradise, magic, knowledge and sensual experience. Legendary magician Merlin was said to carry a silver bough from an...
A team of Turkish archaeologists have announced the fascinating underwater discovery of a large terracotta sculpture of a bare-footed woman wearing a long dress. Could it be Aphrodite who is hidden under the waters? They say that the statue they found hiding in the sand of the Aegean Sea is a Cypriot goddess and the biggest find in underwater history for their country to date.

Which Goddess Lost Her Legs in a Shipwreck? 2,700-Year-Old Terracotta Statue Discovered in Turkish Waters

A team of Turkish archaeologists have announced the fascinating underwater discovery of a large terracotta sculpture of a bare-footed woman wearing a long dress. Could these be Aphrodite’s legs...
The Mother of all Gods: The Phrygian Cybele

The Mother of all Gods: The Phrygian Cybele

A goddess of ecstatic and chthonic reproductive mysteries, Cybele was the primary mother goddess of ancient Anatolia, and Phrygia's only known goddess thus far. She was a "Mistress of Animals", "...
The Descent of Inanna into the Underworld: A 5,500-Year-Old Literary Masterpiece

The Descent of Inanna into the Underworld: A 5,500-Year-Old Literary Masterpiece

The Descent of Inanna (known also as ‘Inanna’s Descent to the Netherworld / Underworld’) is a piece of work in the literary corpus of ancient Mesopotamia. This story, which was originally written in...
Numerous Statues of Sekhmet, The Lioness Goddess of War, Unearthed in Egypt

Numerous Statues of Sekhmet, The Lioness Goddess of War, Unearthed in Egypt

A team of Egyptian archaeologists excavating the Mortuary Temple of King Amenhotep III in Luxor, a city in southern Egypt and the capital of Luxor Governorate, have brought to the surface an...
Ahuitzotl: Powerful Ruler in the Aztec Golden Age

Ahuitzotl: Powerful Ruler in the Aztec Golden Age

Ahuitzotl was a tlatoani (meaning ‘speaker’) of the city of Tenochtitlan, and the eighth ruler of the Aztec Empire. This emperor reigned from 1486 AD to 1502 AD, a period which is regarded by some...
The Mythology of Nut, Mother of Gods

The Mythology of Nut, Mother of Gods

One of the oldest goddesses in Egyptian mythology is Nut, the goddess of the sky ( nut means ‘sky’ in the ancient Egyptian language). It was believed that that the sky is, in fact, a star-covered...
Deliver Us From Evil: How Ancient People Protected Their Houses from Bad Spirits and Bad Luck?

Deliver Us From Evil: How Ancient People Protected Their Houses from Bad Spirits and Bad Luck?

Some people say it is not real, but try to tell them that bad spirits just entered their houses. They will feel insane and try to ignore it, but the unpleasant feeling will stay. In this case people...
Illustration of a Witch.

Who Was the Mysterious Aradia - Italian Goddess or Wicked Witch?

The line between goddess and witch or witch and saint is very thin in ancient history. One example of this confusion is the legendary story of Aradia – a woman whose life has been explored in neo-...
Are Stone Circles Ancient Pregnancy Calendars?

Are Stone Circles Ancient Pregnancy Calendars?

Even today, giving birth can be one of the most dangerous moments in a woman's life. In ancient times it would have been even more so. Matriarchal societies would have tried to ensure the safest...
More than a Goddess of Love: The Many Other Aspects of Aphrodite

More than a Goddess of Love: The Many Other Aspects of Aphrodite

The Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, has a very distinctive image in classical arts. In 458 BCE, the playwright Aeschylus, in his play Agamemnon , used the name of Aphrodite to denote “beauty, charm...
Longest Ancient Etruscan Inscription Reveals Name of Virtually Unknown Goddess

Longest Ancient Etruscan Inscription Reveals Name of Virtually Unknown Goddess

Researchers working in Poggio Colla, a key ancient Etruscan settlement in Italy, have found a 120-character inscription, described as one of the most significant Etruscan discoveries in decades. The...
Mural depicting Isis in the tomb of Seti I in the Valley of the Kings (KV17).

Isis, An Egyptian Goddess Who Spread Her Wings Across Europe

When the Romans entered Egypt they saw a land of magnificent temples, impressive and monumental statues, and symbolism they did not understand. The Greeks felt the same when they explored the country...
A depiction of the Norse goddess Sif.

The Story of Sif, Powerful Wife of Norse God Thor

The warrior god Thor is well known from Old Norse literature. He has become a popular cultural icon, but his wife seems to be largely forgotten these days. However, Sif was once recognized as an...
Dragon Sculpture, China.

The Bird and the Serpent: From the Neolithic Goddesses to Ancient Chinese Symbols of Nobility and Benevolence

Victorian art critic, John Ruskin, in his book Proserpina , calls himself “the gentle and happy scholar of flowers”. A large part of his work is an attempt to connect nature, art and society. To...
The Slavic Star Goddess Zorya, Guardian of the Doomsday Hound and Servant of the Sun God

The Slavic Star Goddess Zorya, Guardian of the Doomsday Hound and Servant of the Sun God

Slavic mythology is one of the less appreciated of all the ancient folklore traditions. The myths grew in the hearts of the tribes of a great civilization, and in the minds of people whose lives were...
The "Disk of Enheduanna" at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia.

The Poetry of Gods by Enheduanna - The First Known Female Writer

It is not always easy to read the stories of real people from the artifacts they left behind. This is especially true if they lived 5,000 years ago. However, the story of a remarkable woman from that...

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